Men's Basketball Coaching Staff
Kerry Prather...Head Coach
Email: kprather@franklincollege.edu
Kerry Prather serves as Franklin College's director of athletics and head men's basketball coach. He joined the Franklin College staff in 1982 as the assistant basketball coach and was promoted to the head coaching position the following year. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Prather has held administrative positions as assistant dean of students, associate director of admissions, acting vice president for enrollment management and acting vice president for administration.
Prather holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University. In 1999, he was named an associate alumnus of Franklin College. Prather was honored as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference's Coach of the Year after guiding the Grizzlies to league championships in 1989 and 1992 and a runner-up finish in 1998. He coached the Grizzlies to an NAIA District 21 championship and No. 3 seed in the NAIA national tournament in Texas in 1991-92. Franklin finished in the Elite Eight that year.
In 1998-99, he guided Franklin to its first (renamed) Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship, which earned his team an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships tournament. Making its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, the Grizzlies reached the Sweet 16 in 1999.
In 1999-2000, he guided Franklin to regular season and tournament titles in the Heartland Conference, and the program's third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. In 2001-02, he coached the Grizzlies to their third HCAC tournament title in four seasons and their fourth NCAA tournament berth in five years. Prather guided Franklin to its fourth conference regular season championship in 2006-07. This past season, Franklin won its fourth conference tournament title, earning its fifth appearance in the NCAA playoffs.
(Start new paragraph here) Heading into the 2008-09 campaign, the Grizzlies have a combined record of 197-97 in the past 11 seasons, including a 115-40 mark in Franklin's Spurlock Center gymnasium during that period. Franklin was first among all NCAA Division III schools in team three-point field goal percentage in 1997-98 and 1999-2000, tops in overall field goal shooting in 1999-2000 and first in team free throw accuracy in 2000-01. Prather served on the NCAA men's basketball committee for the Midwest Region.
Prather has coached seven recipients of the conference Player of the Year award -- Mike Gibbs, Scott Roberts, John Holden, Jason Sibley, Paul Buening and Nick Kane, including one repeat selection (Sibley), plus two All-America players (Holden and Sibley), including one repeat honoree (Sibley). Moreover, he has coached Dave Dunkle, who was selected to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Team and was awarded the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 1993-94.
With 408 victories, Prather is Franklin's winningest men's basketball coach. Moreover, his teams have combined for a 156-106 mark in Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference and Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season contests since 1988. Prather and his wife, Cindy, who teaches in the education department at Franklin College, have two children, Katie and Robbie.
| COACH PRATHER'S TENURE |
|
| CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS | |
| ICAC | 1988-89 |
| ICAC | 1991-92 |
| HCAC | 1999-00 |
| HCAC | 2006-07 |
| CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIPS | |
| HCAC | 1998-99 |
| HCAC | 1999-00 |
| HCAC | 2001-02 |
| HCAC | 2007-08 |
| CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT RUNNERS-UP | |
| ICAC | 1997-98 |
| HCAC | 2003-04 |
| HCAC | 2004-05 |
| HCAC | 2005-06 |
| NATIONAL POST-SEASON TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES | |
| NAIA Division II | 1991-92 |
| NCAA Division III | 1997-98 |
| NCAA Division III | 1998-99 |
| NCAA Division III | 1999-00 |
| NCAA Division III | 2001-02 |
| NCAA Division III | 2007-08 |
| COACH OF THE YEAR | |
| ICAC | 1988-89 |
| ICAC | 1991-92 |
| HCAC | 1997-98 |
| LEADING THE NATION | |
| 3-pt Field Goal Pct | 1997-98 |
| 3-pt Field Goal Pct | 1999-00 |
| Field Goal Pct | 1999-00 |
| Free Throw Pct | 2000-01 |
Assistant Coaches
Jarrod Brett
Email: jbrett@franklincollege.edu
Assistant Coach Jarrod Brett is a 1998 Franklin graduate whose playing career as a Grizzly included all-conference honors his senior year and academic all-conference honors for three years. He was named the Grizzlies’ team MVP in 1996-97 In 1997-98, He helped lead the Grizzlies to a 23-6 record and their first NCAA national tournament appearance. Franklin won a first-round game at Ripon College, which had won 21 consecutive games at that point, before losing the second-round game in overtime to defending national champion Illinois Wesleyan University. He also tied the FC single-season record for three-point field goals made (72) that season. Brett was the recipient of the Goaltenders “Clutch” Award and the Branigin Award for Mental Attitude. After graduation, he served four years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, rising to the rank of captain. During the 2002-03 season, he served as a volunteer assistant to his father, Steve Brett, the head coach at Loogootee High School. During his coaching tenure at Franklin, Brett earned his master’s degree from Indiana University in 2007. He and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Franklin.
Justin Brown
Email: jbrown2@franklincollege.edu
Assistant Coach Justin Brown joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant in 2005. A 2005 Franklin College graduate in sociology/criminal justice, Brown played four years for the Grizzlies basketball program, lettering in each season, and was named the team's recipient of the Robert M. Branigin Award for Mental Attitude his senior year. A native of Indianapolis and graduate of Decatur Central High School, he resides in Franklin.
Matt Hall
Email: mhall@franklincollege.edu
Volunteer Assistant Coach Matt Hall joined the coaching staff in 2006. He is a 1997 graduate of Earlham College.
